‘Never say never’: Craig Bellamy responds to South Sydney rumours, says Storm unlikely to sign Josh Schuster

Storm coach Craig Bellamy says he hasn’t heard from anyone at South Sydney about him possibly replacing Jason Demetriou in 2025, with a report this week suggesting the veteran Melbourne boss is getting close to extending his current contract into a 23rd season.

Bellamy’s future is always a hot topic, with fears he could pull up stumps at the end of the year, but he’s always found reasons to keep going as he hunts another premiership with the Storm.

The Rabbitohs are reportedly on the verge of sacking Demetriou after Saturday’s game against Cronulla, with Bellamy and Wayne Bennett high on their list of replacements.

“I haven’t heard from anyone at Souths, so I don’t think there’s any decision to make,” Bellamy said ahead of Friday’s game against the Bulldogs who beat them in Melbourne a year ago.

“I’m not looking (at any other head coaching roles) at all, but you never say never.

“I’m coaching here, that’s my job. There’s nothing else on the table. If there was, I probably wouldn’t want to think about it anyway.

“I expect the players and the staff to be focused on what their job is, so that’s what I’ve got to do as well.”

Contracts were all the rage at Thursday’s press conference, with Bellamy asked whether the club was in the market to sign Josh Schuster, who was told by Manly officials on Wednesday that he was free to leave the club.

Schuster is on a deal worth $800,000 per season but hasn’t played first grade this year, with concerns over his fitness and attitude.

The Storm already has one of the best halves pairings in the NRL, while Eli Katoa, Joe Chan and Shawn Blore have all impressed in the back row.

“The retention committee haven’t spoken about him at all,” Bellamy said.

“I think it’s just come out that he’s been released – I don’t know – but if that’s fact then we can have a look to see if we can fit him in.

“But I’m not sure we’d be able to fit him in dollar-wise. I think that’d be fairly unlikely.”

The Storm is flying at the moment, but it’s unclear whether giant prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona has done enough to win back a spot for the Bulldogs game.

The Kiwis enforcer missed the start of the season due to a hamstring injury and has played the past couple of weeks for the Bears in reserve grade, with Asofa-Solomona scoring a try and also sent to the sin bin last week.

The star prop is one of the Storm’s most important players, and his absence has led to speculation that he’s fallen out of favour with club officials.

“There’s been a lot of noise about it, but he had a hamstring injury for four or five weeks at the end of the pre-season going into the season which put him back a bit,” Bellamy insisted, with Asofa-Solomona named on an extended bench this week.

“He played well in NSW Cup last week, so if he keeps that up then he’ll be back in the side at some stage.”